Finishing fourth at the Olympics is rarely enjoyable and there was certainly no pleasure in it for New Zealander eventer Andrew Nicholson.
It was almost inevitable Nicholson would finish just out of the medals after his controversial dressage test when he was subjected to 10-minute delay immediately prior to entering the ring which unsettled his horse and cost him valuable points.
Whether he would still have won a medal is debatable - he finished 4.2 points behind Germany's Sandra Auffarth in third - but he didn't feel like he was given a fair chance from the outset. Delays for inclement weather are almost unheard of and riders plan preparations for their dressage rides down to the last minute.
Nicholson still won team bronze in London and he now has three Olympic medals, but all have come in the team's competition and he was convinced he would stand on the dais as an individual at these Games.
"Gutted,'' he said of his fourth place. "[These Olympics are] the one that got away.''